As I have gotten older, I have formed a dependence on caffeine, and have noticed that many adults do as well. Coffee is usually what comes to mind when you think of getting some energy in the morning, but tea is also a solid option. One is healthier, one gives more energy, and one benefits your health in other ways. Which drink is overall better? Well, it depends what you want to get out of it.
Typically, coffee is seen as less healthy than tea, but is that actually true? Coffee in fact has lots of antioxidants, such as quinines, trigonelline, and chlorogenic acid. In addition, research has suggested that coffee may lower the rise of liver cancer, colon cancer, Parkinson’s disease, type II diabetes, and gout. When it comes to caffeine content, coffee has more of it than tea. So, if you want to drink tea or coffee to get a caffeine boost, coffee would be the best bet.
On the other hand, there are some negatives to coffee as well. As you have probably heard from your parents or seen first hand, drinking a large amount of coffee can lead to anxiety, insomnia, and just overall a dependence on caffeine. Some people get headaches when they do not have their regular cups of coffee during the day. Higher levels of bad cholesterol have been linked to a person drinking lots of unfiltered coffee, but research is still being done to see if drinking coffee raises the risk of heart disease in some people, since results have been conflicting thus far.
Tea has a more positive connotation. Tea and tea extracts were tested on rats, mice, and human cells in laboratory studies, showing promising positive results. Like coffee, research has suggested that tea lowers the risk of Parkinson’s disease. It also lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s, reduces cholesterol levels, helps prevent blood clotting, fight inflammation, cancer, and seasonal allergies. In addition to all these health benefits, different types of tea have possible health benefits, too. Black and green tea may lower risk for ovarian cancer, green tea may reduce breast cancer risk and decrease death rates from heart disease. When it comes to caffeine, it seems like coffee has more. This is because the high comes faster, but will also drop quicker, while tea will keep you going for longer. Tea also contains many more antioxidants than coffee. The National Cancer Institute at the NIH says that tea contains polyphenol compounds, which are antioxidants that might aid in cancer prevention.
Some cons to drinking tea would, of course, be the fact that it contains caffeine, which can become addictive when consumed too often. Tea also contains fluoride, which is good for your dental health, but can also increase risk of brittle bones.
After collecting this information, it is not easy to decide which is best. If you are someone who needs energy, and fast, coffee is a good pick. Although there are cons to drinking coffee, Harvard School of Public Health analyzed coffees affect on health and came to the conclusion that it did not cause any serious health problems, while also not providing any specific health benefits, either, making coffee a pretty neutral drink. So, if you enjoy drinking coffee, there is nothing to worry about. If you are a woman concerned about your health, tea might be a beneficial choice, because of its possible benefits and plenty of antioxidants. For my sake, I think I will continue to enjoy my regular cups of coffee and try to increase the amount of tea I drink.
Sources: Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Picture source
I came across your article and was really interested in it because I struggle a lot with deciding if I should stick to either just coffee or tea. I have become so addicted to coffee that if I go a day without it, and feel a headache coming on, I know the only thing to help it is drinking coffee. Since I know I’m so dependent on it I switched to drinking just tea in the mornings, and realized I was not getting the same energy boost that coffee gave me. So after this I decided it was better for me to drink coffee in the morning and tea at night. Your post gave me a lot of confidence that my method will be good for me, and my addiction to coffee won’t be that harmful to me.
At the end of your post, I said, “wow, I never knew that.” There were a lot of moments like that because sometimes we take our coffee and tea for granted; just drinking it and not knowing the effects. I’d have to say that tea is healthier because it does help cure more diseases, and in general it is healthier too. And also, for the most part, tea is cheaper. I wonder if the coloring of tea makes it have a more positive connotation and just the history behind why people drank it?
I’m a big coffee drinker so this blog obviously caught my eye. I’m not one of those people who has to have coffee to get through my day so I guess that’s a good thing right? Anyways what really stood out to me was all the different health benefits that tea has on people. I never knew that it lowers the risk of Parkinson’s disease and also Alzheimer’s. I thought that was pretty cool.
Your blog post interested me because I drink coffee every day, sometimes multiple times a day. I started drinking it just for the caffeine boost but now I also enjoy the taste of it. I always thought tea had more caffeine in it so when I read that coffee had more I was shocked. I also did not know about all the health benefits that comes with coffee consumption. I know that tea is known for having a lot of antioxidants, especially green tea. Here is an article that lists some of the benefits of drinking green tea http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-green-tea/